Friend of the Stars

Ok so I’m clicking around Facebook a lot these days looking into the viral aspect of the apps, what does and doesn’t work, etc, etc. I can’t help but pick up on the various hacks people have come up with on built in features, such as tagging any pics you like with your name to browse instantly from your profile. Or posting up those Mr Men or whatever collages to match up the friend with the trait.

All cool little diversions. And none requiring you’re friends to install any 3rd party contraption for the network dimension to be of use. And I’ve come up with my own – seeing how many of the rich and famous I can add to my network. I’m thinking start off with the Z listers then gradually build up my friend of the stars rep with a self-fulfilling trust network of media whores savvy celebs who crave a platform with the right connections. Why could that platform not be my friend network? ‘Any friend of Putin is a friend of mine’, etc, etc. Once your fellow average joe friends are in on the act facebook network top trumps could ensue: ‘I see your Matt Damon and I raise you Kevin Costner…’ or whatever.

Network Wars.

Surely beats the arse out of the ‘network’ features of Mafia Wars (amounting to nothing more than an endless time-restricted & turn-based cycle of ‘send x, receive y’). I’ve had a shot at two people already. Although not famous outside of their domains, I’ve never met either personally and they’re well known to enough to kick this off. For now Putin will just have to wait.

No 1: Frank DeLise Creator, Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942
Let me tell you. DC for BF1942 was a great, great game. Basrah’s Edge, Nights, Al Nas, Bridge, Lost Village, Berlin… sigh. And this man is the man. And I told him as much in my friend request. ‘long time fan, big respect for what you did with DC’. Result? First celebrity (in my head anyway) in the clutches of the Rutherford network. Mhuahaha. Ha.

No 2: Pamela Ballantine Presenter @ UTV
Went local for my 2nd. At under 2million we’re a small (if sometimes stupidly violent) nation, but it’s still pretty impressive to get your bake on our TVs night after night. Again, playing the loyal fan card appears to do the job ‘long time fan of RPM and it’s great presenter!’ Although she did make me wait a week before accepting. Treat ’em mean keep ’em keen I guess.

So it’s onto celeb no 3 and I feel like going for a more adventurous target this time. Will keep you posted in the comments.

While I’m on the subject of Facebook, anyone else find it disappointing they removed the friend network info feature? You know – the breakdown of what networks people’s friends are from? Seeing the recent Friends Analysis app reminded me of it and now when I went hunting for it apparently it’s been dumped without reason. Shame, kind of liked seeing the at a glance cultural backgrounds of my own and others networks.

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You wait all day for a bus, then two come at once. Not that I’m comparing either of the following to public transport. I’m delighted that they feel they can trust me, a complete stranger, enough to add me into their select grouping online.

To continue with the horrific metaphor theme, a rising tide floats all boats and I can feel my own status slowly being jacked up by the company I’m now keeping. I’ve moved on darlings:

No 3: Keith Gillespie Ex-Northern Irish international footballer
Gillespie is a great man and while fond of a bevy or two no doubt would never have found himself in a local niteclub in the early hours of a Monday morning just prior to the biggest match so far in his career.

Take note stars of today.

But this didn’t stop me using in my friend request the fact I once spoke to him in Belfast’s Milk (back when it was socially acceptable to be seen there) post match back in hazier student days. While it may have been big Maik Taylor seeing as he doesn’t appear to be on FB I have to be pragmatic about the facts. Keith Gillespie, ex-Man U, Norn Iron & general legend.

No 4: Julie Hyman
There’s something about Bloomberg anchors. The fact they don’t wear braces or aspire to maybe one day lick the arse of CNBC’s Jim Cramer helps. But they also possess a subtle, reserved intelligence that tells you there’s a lot more to ’em.

So God bless Julie Hyman. I told her as much and it worked – my first global celebrity friend. I’m sure she’s delighted.

This should have been update #5 and probably the most well-known personality yet. Unfortunately it’s time to introduce the game’s first rule:

In order to count the star must not be using their profile as a Facebook fan page. I had added Kristina Rihanoff and pretty quick she was with a response too. (Complete with personalised message too might I add). Not so personalised was the 1,800 odd others who are also mates with her.

The first version of the FBook app was much better. When they relaunched it a few weeks ago?it has all sorts of problems. Doesn?t remember your login. Hangs up. Doesn?t let you scroll down more than about 8 status updates. I hate. I deleted it. Trouble is I can?t find any other app that did as good a job with uploading mobile photos. I may have to reinstall it just for that.